Primping Ponders End

Saturday morning I was at Ponders End Locks for a towpath task force litter pick, painting, gardening and general primping of the locks. I'm also happy to report that the odd-sized tap there has also now been sorted out and replaced with something better suited.

I spent most of my time either hacking at the foliage on the offside lock landing and lock side with some garden shears, or sat on the lock wall extracting plants from cracks in the concrete with a sharp scraper.

First four sacks of lock-side foliage, there were many more.

Other volunteers scraped away at loose paint on the lock footbridge, and, having prepped it, started putting on a fresh coat of paint. Like Old Ford Locks 19, there's a lot of work to do here to make the locks look as good as we'd like, so this may take a few volunteer sessions.

Towpath task force events are open for volunteers to 'just turn up at' - so there's usually a good crowd, and a mix of experienced and novice volunteers, but there's always something for everyone to do, and as much tea and biscuits as you can manage.

As well as my time as a horny handed son of the soil, I also tried to make sure that the lock chambers were always full. With so many people working around the lock, falling hazards are a risk that needs to be managed constantly and having full lock chambers helps ensure that this risk is much reduced. Of course I helped see a few boats through the lock too.

Work on the planters, and the lock side before I weeded it.

After a few hours, we'd achieved a fair bit. Fresh paint on the control cabin and lock bridge. A lock landing that can be negotiated without wading though a ton of nettles, a thorough litter pick, and fewer trip and skid hazards on the lock-side. Good work.

5 hours.